Whales

Everywhere you look these days, well mainly in the ocean, there are whales. I've seen several in the past few days. They are so big and beautiful and they're fun to watch. We have lots of whales here in NL and visitors just love to see them.

Another beautiful hike

Today we did a return hike from Torbay to Flatrock. It took us almost four hours but it was well worth it. It was a beautiful day and Sid had a great time.

The trail was very close to the cliffs which made it all the more beautiful but at times scary. Especially with dogs as you never know where they'll go or what they'll do. The picture below was taken from right on the trail. If you took one step to the side, you would have fallen down between these two cliffs! One of the dogs nearly fell in! It is a long ways down.

Sid poses for yet another picture. He must be one of the most photographed dogs in the world! He's just too darn cute and I can't stop taking pictures of him. One of Sid's pictures was even posted in the S.P.C.A. calender a few years back. He was Mr. November.

The picture below was taken as we were returning to Torbay and by then we were all tired. It was very warm but thankfully there was a breeze off the ocean. Sid was lagging behind at the end. He usually doesn't slow down much but I think he was tired and warm.

As soon as we got home, he headed to the basement and spent a few hours on the couch. He was, and still is, completely exhausted which I just love! Just look at Sid's eyes in this picture. He looks just like a zombie!

Mom and Dad are coming in tonight to stay for the night. I'm sure we'll be playing cards and we also plan to go down to the beach to watch the sun set and then have a fire in the firepit. Sounds like a good night.

Renovations

We are in the process of doing a few renovations to the house. We are putting in all new windows on the front of the house as well as a new patio door. We ordered the windows and they were delivered last week. When Brian checked the measurements, the windows were all too big and now we have to reorder the them, so it will be another while before we get those in.

We are also putting in a new wood stove in the rec room. We currently have a propane stove, but with the cost of propane being so high, we are switching over to a woodstove. Brian loves cutting wood so that will be another job to keep him busy. I can't wait for a snowy winter night to go down and cuddle up on the couch with the woodstove burning. Just kidding, I am thoroughly enjoying the warm summer weather!

We are putting new laminate flooring in the rec room as well. We need to fix up the floor as Sid tore up alot of the carpet a few years ago when he wasn't impressed that we had left him home alone for a few hours. It's only now that we are getting around to fixing it. We are also putting new flooring in the two spare bedrooms. One of which will eventually be the baby's room.

There are so many other things I'd like to do, but there is never enough time and money. Eventually I want to add another bathroom in the basement because right now we only have the one. I'd also love to finish the rest of our basement, but there is really no rush on that. I have enough house to clean right now as it is!

This weekend Brian is out of town so I have the house to myself. Sid and I are going on a nice long hike tomorrow morning and on Sunday I am going for a run and then out to breakfast with a group of friends. It should be a nice relaxing weekend. Well I'd better run. I'm just heading over to my neighbors as they're having a fire in their firepit. Hopefully there will be marshmallows.

Pictures of home

I was up early this morning and since I didn't really have anything new to post, I thought I would add some pictures of around Newfoundland that we have taken over the past year. I hope you enjoy them!

Lots of exciting news!!

I am so excited! I spent my lunch time today on two computers at work while using two telephones to try to get Elton John tickets. He is coming to St. John's on October 2 and 3. After 50 minutes I finally got through on the internet and got four tickets. Shortly after they were all sold out. I was shaking as I was filling in my information because I was just so excited. I've always wanted to see Elton John and now I will. I was really lucky as no one else at my work got tickets and I've talked to alot more people who were also unable to get them.

That is not the only exciting news that I have to share. A good friend, Rachel, who I met on the Yahoo group for Philippines adoption, just got her referral for a little boy! I am just so excited for Rachel and her husband Dave. They waited for 9 months and 2 weeks which is a surprisingly short wait. They were so surprised and of course thrilled. Now they just have to wait to get everything clued up before they can travel. I'm sure that they will have their little one home in no time. It just makes this process seem so real when someone close to you gets a referral. I'm pretty sure that we will wait longer than 9 months but maybe it won't be the two to three year wait that I have anticipated. Only time will tell.

2 month anniversary!

It was two months ago today that we received ICAB approval. Two months down, many to go. So far the wait hasn't been too bad, but when I think that we may have to wait for three years, I go crazy!

I just found out yesterday that Elton John is coming to St. John's on October 2 and 3 (just before my birthday on the 4th). The concert is only a 20 minute drive from our house. I can't believe that he is coming here. What in the world was he thinking! Tickets go on sale this Friday and I'm really hoping to get one but so is everyone else in Newfoundland and probably eastern Canada. They will sell out pretty fast I'm sure.

We have had a beautiful July. Today was the first day that we had showers in two weeks. It has been sunny and hot and I even have a tan. I spend all of my free time out in the garden and I like to spend time reading my book while sitting out on the deck. I just finished a book and I'm now looking for another one to read. If anyone has any good suggestions, please let me know. That's it for now.

My new wicker patio set

I finished painting the deck yesterday and today I put out our new patio set. We have had absolutely beautiful weather for the past week so today I just sat out and enjoyed the day once I got off work. It is so hard working when you know it is warm outside. You just want to be out enjoying the weather instead of working because without notice the rain and fog could return. We have been spending lunch times out in the park just outside the hospital. I usually like to walk around the lake lunch time but it is just too hot right now, but I am not complaining! I plan on spending lots of evenings out on the patio this summer so bring on the good weather.

Vacation at the cabin!

We just enjoyed a four day holiday down at the cabin with Mom and Dad. We had beautiful weather and Sid enjoyed being on the go all day. He slept for pretty much the whole drive back which took 4 hours and he is still asleep now in on his bed. While gone we saw four caribou, lots of rabbits and squirrels, and one dead moose. We saw bear tracks but thankfully no bears. Below are pictures of Triton Brook which is absolutely beautiful. Everytime we go there I end up taking tons of pictures of Sid!

On Friday we made the 1.5 hour trek each way to Rodney Pond by ATV. We had to cross a river on ATV on our way to the pond. The water was up higher than usual because of our extra rainy weather this spring and I was happy to make it across in one piece. We went fishing once we reached the pond and after 4 hours in boat, my bum was pretty much dead!

Brian caught 4 fish on Thursday night and four again on Friday in Rodney Pond. We gave them all away as we are not big fans of trout. Brian also went salmon fishing but didn't catch a thing. Below is a picture of Sid and I when we were returning from our fishing trip. Sid was so good and he just sat on my lap the whole way while Brian drove. Last year he stood up alot while Brian was driving and once he even fell off the bike but thankfully he didn't hurt himself.

Sid was really good out in boat. He just lid there and had a nap and when he woke up he stood at the front of the boat looking out. He did become nervous though once the water became rough and began pacing back and forth the boat so then we headed for land. Unlike Joanne, I do not have life jackets for my dog. I'll have to check into that in case Sid ever decides to jump overoboard!

It turned out to be a great weekend and we hope to get back down to the cabin sometime over the next few months. It's a four hour drive each way so you really need a long weekend to go there. Hopefully our good weather continues and I'll get the deck painted over the next week.